The present invention relates to an image producing/displaying apparatus for producing and displaying an image, and more particularly to an image producing/displaying apparatus which can produce an image for visually displaying at least part of a virtual world including at least one object and environment in which the object exists, and further displaying the image after receiving a command to change a state of at least one object existing in the virtual world.
An image producing/displaying apparatus includes an apparatus for producing and displaying images for various events occurring in a virtual world including objects, an apparatus for producing and displaying events occurring in a real world as events in a virtual world which is a model of the real world, and the like. As examples of such apparatuses, there are electronic game machines, an animation displaying apparatus such as a virtual reality system, a navigation system and the like. In such an image displaying apparatus, it is sometimes necessary to give a command to an object displayed in a picture such as, for example, a person or a thing so that the object is changed to a desired state to be displayed in the picture. Particularly, in an electronic game and the virtual reality system, it is desired in respect of improvement of the game and the reality to give a command to the object and change a state thereof.
In the animation, when motion of an object is commanded, it is necessary to input numerical values for a distance of movement, an angle of a joint and the like for elements constituting a form of the object individually. Hence, it takes a great deal of time to command the motion of the object. Accordingly, as a matter of course, it is difficult to change the image in real time.
On the other hand, there is a method whereby a gesture is taken in as an image by means of the motion capture technique and movement of the gesture is reflected to a virtual world to give a command for the motion of the object. This method requires means for forming an image of the gesture and means for extracting movement of the gesture to convert it into motion of the object. With this method, a command for motion can be input quickly and the image can be changed in real time as compared with the individual input of the numerical values.
However, when a command for motion is given using the gesture as it is, it is necessary that an object has the same shape as a person. In other words, for an object having a shape that is different from a person, for example a fish, it is difficult to convert the gesture into the command for motion.
Further, when the gesture is taken in as an image to use it as the command for motion, it is not necessarily easy to identify which is the gesture for the command for motion while a person is being moved. Accordingly, it is necessary to judge whether motion of a person expressed in the picture is a command or not. However, the judgment is not necessarily made easily and increased burden is loaded on an apparatus. Further, there is a case where the command cannot be extracted exactly.